BUSINESSMAN Andre Hylton has returned to his old stomping ground of St Andrew Eastern in a bid to gain the nod to run on a People’s National Party (PNP) ticket in the next general election.
Hylton had previously represented the constituency from 2011 to 2016 after he defeated the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Dr Saphire Longmore by just more than 250 votes in his first bid at representational politics.
He failed to retain the seat in the 2016 General Election losing to the then JLP newcomer Fayval Williams. Following that defeat Hylton headed to St James Central where he was trounced by the JLP’s Heroy Clarke in 2020.
But in recent months scores of PNP supporters in St Andrew Eastern have been calling for Hylton’s return and he was recently acclaimed as the constituency chairman.
“I think it would be a no-brainer to think other than Andre Hylton will be ratified by the NEC [National Executive Council] as the standard-bearer going forward for the PNP in eastern St Andrew,” claimed one PNP source.
But on Monday Hylton told the Jamaica Observer that no decision has yet been made, but he has indicated his interest in returning to the constituency he once held.
“I would call it a homecoming. As you know I was the Member of Parliament from 2011 to 2016 and we lost the seat by 157 votes [161 according to Electoral Commission of Jamaica] and the people have been calling me to come back and, with the support of our party leader [Mark Golding] and general secretary [Dr Dayton Campbell], I will be back and I think we will be victorious in the next general election,” said Hylton as he rejected claims that he abandoned the constituency by switching to St James Central in 2020.
“My going to St James was at a request of the then party leader [Dr Peter Phillips] because I have very strong roots there and we needed candidates there at that time and I decided to answer the call. It wasn’t really abandoning the people because by that time somebody [Venesha Phillips] had already taken up the role of candidate in the constituency,” added Hylton.
Phillips failed in her attempt to unseat Williams losing by more than 2,300 votes in 2020 as the JLP retained the seat.
That margin of victory has made some political watchers, including people in the PNP, sceptical that Hylton will be able to provide a real challenge to Williams, a now two-term MP and the current minister of education and youth.
But the businessman is undaunted as he dismisses claims that the JLP now has a stranglehold on what was long termed a ‘swing seat’.
“It is a seat that the People’s National Party must win and I am going to do all that I can, with the support of my team, the people and the party’s leadership and I know we will be victorious. We have done it already and we will do it again,” said Hylton as he ignored the margin of defeat for the PNP the last time around.
“My deficit is a little over 100 votes and I know how to turn that around. I don’t think it is fair to look at the last result. We must observe it in the context of how the 2020 election was won by the other party and understand it in that way. My number that I use is what I lost by in 2016,” declared Hylton.
He told the Observer that St Andrew Eastern is a constituency where he is intertwined with the people and one where he worked for many years long before he was elected the MP.
“I enjoy serving people, I enjoy trying to make Jamaica a better place and the people have said they want me to continue the work that I started when a lot was done in terms of uplifting people while the infrastructure and the development of the constituency was at the forefront of my efforts.
“You know that St Andrew Eastern is a predominantly middle-class community and we won back the middle-class votes in 2016 for the first time in that constituency since 1976. We served persons from all spectrum and because of my personality, and the relationships that I have developed, I am comfortable with all the residents,” added Hylton.
